It was always in my mind to play for Wales, even when I got my England call – Brooks

REPUBLIC of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill says Cardiff City’s Harry Arter is “concentrating on club football” after the midfielder was absent from the squad to face Wales.

O’Neill revealed last week that Arter, 28, was involved in an altercation with assistant boss Roy Keane in the summer.

“That might be part of the reason, yes it could well be if that’s the case,” O’Neill said on Monday as he named his final squad for the Nations Cup game.

Southampton striker Shane Long misses out because of a foot injury.

“I’m not denying there hasn’t been altercations,” O’Neill told the Daily Mirror last week but he added that the situation has “definitely been defused”.

Arter played the full game for Cardiff on Sunday in a 3-2 defeat by Arsenal in the Premier League.

“Harry’s not coming, he’s concentrating on his club football at this moment. I think he wants to just get back on track,” said O’Neill on Monday.

“His club appearances have been few and far between just recently and he wants to concentrate on that.”

O’Neill has trimmed his panel down from 31 to 26 for Thursday’s game in Cardiff and a friendly against Poland on 11 September,

Another Bluebird, Greg Cunningham, also miss out along with goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara, who will link up with the U21s. DAVID Brooks has revealed it was always his intention to play for Wales, even when he was called up to represent England at youth level.

The 21-year-old represented England at the 2017 Toulon Tournament – going on to win the competition with the Young Lions as well as being named Player of the Tournament – despite being named in Wales’ Under20 squad for the same competition prior to the call from England.

Warrington-born Brooks – who qualifies to play for Wales through his Welsh mother – then played for Wales’ Under-21 side later in the year before earning his first full international caps under Chris Coleman in the friendlies against France and Panama in November.

He missed the China Cup due to illness but made his first international appearance under current boss Ryan Giggs in the 0-0 draw with Mexico in May, although he is yet to make a competitive appearance for Wales, meaning he is still eligible to play for the Three Lions.

But having been called up by Giggs for Wales’ Nations League games against Republic of Ireland on Thursday and Denmark (Sunday), Brooks re-iterated that his heart lies with the Red Dragons, adding that he’s grateful his exploits with England didn’t hamper his chances of starring for Wales.

“It was always in my mind to play for Wales, even when I got the England call up I’d already expressed my feelings to play for Wales, and thankfully it (playing for England) didn’t sway anyone and I’ve been lucky enough to come into the Wales setup,” said Brooks.

“I’ve made my decision and it was quite easy for me. You can get all the advice in the world, but at the end of the day it’s up to you.”

Brooks was a regular in the Championship at Sheffield United last term, and after impressing at Bramall Lane, the youngster earned himself a big money move to Bournemouth in the summer.

He made his Premier League bow in the Cherries’ 2-0 win over Cardiff City on the opening day of the 2018/19 campaign, with his new national team boss Giggs among those watching on at the Vitality Stadium.

And when asked if he was eager to hand Brooks his first competitive cap in the Nations League to finally put the England debate to bed, Giggs responded: “It was more for football reasons why I picked him and potentially pick him in the games.

“I went to see him in the first game of the season, Bournemouth v Cardiff.

“Obviously it was his first game in the Premier League. He was with us in Los Angeles as well and he was brilliant.

“He was great around the place, and he’s a really talented player.

“I really enjoyed watching him train so it’s great he’s had that move, to a good club under a good coach.”

Brooks earned his stripes not too far away from Giggs’ former stamping ground at Old Trafford having been in Man City’s youth set-up for a decade.

And the 21-year-old admits his national team manager is the ideal man to learn from given his trophyladen career with Manchester United.

“I’m going to take all the advice off him I can,” added Brooks.

“He was a fantastic footballer and he’s near enough won every trophy under the sun.

“If he’s got any advice for me I’ll be glad to take it on board.”

The youngster is one of several battling for a place in Giggs’ starting line up when Wales host Martin O’Neill’s Ireland at Cardiff City Stadium on Thursday night.

Speaking about his aims of breaking into the starting XI and Wales’ bid to avenge their defeat to the Emerald Isle in the Welsh capital last October, Brooks said: “It’s a massive honour to put on your national team’s shirt and I can’t wait to do that and put in a good performance on Thursday night.

“They’re always on the front foot, they press very high and always look to attack. If we’re calm and composed, we’ve got a lot of quality in our team to go and hurt them. If we play our game we’ll get the three points.

“At the time we were all devastated about the World Cup game, but we’ve had to put that to the back of our mind and hopefully we can get a result.”

Meanwhile one Wales player who has special reason to look forward to the squad’s trip to Denmark this weekend is Spurs defender Ben Davies.

Despite being Welsh through and through, Davies spent a few of his formative years living in the Scandinavian nation.

“I was there for about a year and half, two years, because my dad was working out there,” the 25-year-old explains.

“He worked for a Danish company called Grundfos, which is a massive company, and he got the job offer so we moved there for a couple of years before I went to comprehensive school.

“Where we’ll be playing in Aarhus, we lived about 45 minutes to an hour away from there.

“I loved it there. I had some amazing memories. I still have some friends I met there along the way I keep in contact with now.

“I loved living there and I loved having that experience and, looking back, I’m so happy I did it.”

Before moving to Scandinavia, Davies’ upbringing in Neath in the